Council approves 220-block rezoning without modification. On September 4, 2008, the City Council approved the rezoning proposal for Laurelton, a Queens community near the border of Nassau County. The plan includes lower-density and contextual rezoning for approximately 215 blocks, an upzoning from C8-1 and R3-2 to R5D along Merrick and Spring Boulevards, and commercial overlay changes to more closely match existing commercial development.

The plan culminates over six years of research, planning, and community outreach. Laurelton residents first approached the Department of City Planning in 2002, citing numerous residential developments of attached, semi-detached, and multifamily structures out-of-character with the existing neighborhood. In response, Planning proposed a rezoning that would prevent lot subdivision and preserve the one- and two-family detached housing character of the community yet still allow for modest residential and commercial retail growth along Laurelton’s primary thoroughfare.

After the City Planning Commission heard the proposal in August, it approved the plan without modification. It agreed that existing zoning, unchanged since 1961, had contributed to development that was inconsistent with the neighborhood’s one- and two-family character. Like Community Board 13, Queens Borough President Helen M. Marshall, and the Commission, the Council found all aspects of the plan appropriate and approved the proposal.